Mar 13, 2012 - Champions generally don't leave their promotions while in the midst of a title reign, but that's exactly the route that Vinny Magalhaes is planning to take. As he tells it, the decision to part ways with M-1 has been a foregone conclusion for months, and the impetus came smack in the middle of his last match.

Last October, Magalhaes was in the midst of successfully defending his light-heavyweight championship against Mikhail Zayats at an M-1 show in Phoenix when his manager Juan Sanchez heard M-1's director of operations Evgeni Kogan openly rooting for and instructing Zayats.

"Once that happens, I don't know how you can trust somebody," Magalhaes told MMA Fighting.

As it turns out, he can't. And so on Tuesday, Magalhaes (9-5-1) declared his free agency, saying he's lived out the terms of his contract. While Sanchez told MMA Fighting that M-1 has a matching period, he doesn't expect them to equal any new deal. There's little doubt he'll be a hot commodity, as the 27-year-old has gone 7-1 since ending his first UFC run in April 2009.